Summary: Post rehab, Frank Langdon walks into the wrong meeting before his first day back at work and happens to meet just the right person.
A doctor walks into a grief group thinking it’s an NA meeting.
Pairing: Frank Langdon X Celebrity Reader!
Tags: drug-use, rehab, addiction, explicit sexual content later on (will be marked)
Frank knew Abby was pissed at him. Suspected it from the phone call, let it settle in on the drive to the hospital and accepted it when he got there. Her jaw was set with the same disappointment he had only ever seen once before; the day he admitted to his substance abuse. He gulped against a dry throat when he saw her at the entrance. It was like she had a beacon on him and knew when to step outside so he’d spot her as the car pulled in.
“You’re late,” she told him. “The kids have calmed down. We’re ready to go.” Frank could feel the blame through her words. Knew she was cursing him out in multiple languages in her head (she’d double majored in literature and foreign languages in college), and he would have let it go. Except, he was peeved at her too.
“Sorry,” he snapped back. “I’ll plan the paparazzi ambush a little earlier next time.”
“Don’t be cute,” she warned. “Come.”
He followed her down the hall and into a wide open seating area. It was so different from what he was used to at his hospital. A bright space with sunlight streaming in, colors on the walls and play areas for the kids. Two of them were his; Tanner and Penny, sitting on the puzzle mat floor with various toy cars. When they saw him, two tiny pairs of feet ran towards him.
“Hey, guys.” He sat before they could jump on him- his back couldn’t take another tweak so soon- and allowed them to crawl into his lap. “Heard you guys had a pretty interesting day today.” He ruffled Tanner’s hair. The boy was unusually quiet. “Anything you wanna tell me?”
“I didn’t mean to bite him so hard,” Tanner explained. “I got angry. They were talking about you and Livy’s mom…” The five year old made an expression eerily similar to the one on Abby’s face right now.
Frank, in all his parenting glory, told him, “We can’t bite people when we get angry.”
Tanner tilted his head to the side. “Not even a little?”
“Not even a little,” Frank’s voice was firm. He heard Abby’s heels click up to him and heard her ask the kids if they were ready to go. Unfortunately, Frank was still annoyed at her for what she said about you earlier in the day. “What about you, babygirl? How do you feel?”
“Tanner bit a boy,” she told him. “Got blood all over my dress.” Frank winced.
“That sounds terrible. The pink one?” When she nodded her head, he frowned. “That’s you favourite one. “
“Hmhm.” She bobbed her little head up and down, and her curly ponytails moved with the action. “Said he was sorry. Said I can have his teddy bear.”
“Is this him? Is this the father?” The voice came from a smartly dressed woman with a red updo and a mauve tone lipstick very similar to one he’d seen you wear. It was odd how he remembered. It was odd he knew the word mauve. Abby would often tease him about not being able to differentiate between shades. Now he could pick yours in a lineup. “Are you Frank Langdon? Your son bit my kid!”
He rose to his full height, kids still clinging to his legs. “Yes, I am. I’m so sorry about your kid. My son has never done something like this before.”
“So your wife said.” The woman folded her arms, lips pursed in a terse expression. Frank felt his phone vibrate and didn’t dare look at it. “She explained it all. My younger son used to have bouts of violence like this-”
“My son doesn’t have bouts of violence.” He looked at Abby, who was not meeting his eyes.
“I’m not judging. Having a broken home can cause behavioral issues. I wanted to give you this.”
He watched the bird like woman fish through her purse. The entire time, he wondered what the hell she was talking about. Tanner didn’t have behavioral issues. Tanner wasn’t an angry kid. He was a good kid that had gone through a parental divorce and was dealing with it the best way he could.
“Here.” It was a number for a child psychologist printed on a heavy, expensive paper card. “Dr. Fran is excellent. You should give her a call.”
“My son doesn’t need a psychologist. He-”
“Thank you.” Abby took the card from the other mother’s hand. “Really. I appreciate your understanding.”
The woman nodded, then sauntered her way back into the wards. Frank turned on Abby as soon as her red bun disappeared out of sight. He looked at the card in his ex-wife’s hand and the solemn expression on her face. It confused him to no end, as did the way she tucked the card into her pocket. Not her purse, her pocket, which she always cleaned out before throwing in the wash. And to make matters worse, his damn phone never stopped vibrating.
“My phone keeps fu-” Frank bit off the curse word right before the kids heard him, and finally slid it out of his pocket. The name that flashed wasn’t yours. It was Olivia’s, and that made his heart speed up. He answered immediately.
“Olivia?” Her panicked tone sent shivers down his body. After today, she wouldn’t be calling him unless it had something to do with you. “What’s wrong?”
“Your mom? No, she left the hospital hours ago.”
He could feel Abby’s eyes on him. See her mouth something to Tanner and heard him begin to explain who Olivia was. He knew she wouldn’t be happy. She’d be even more pissed and probably call you out your name again like earlier. But he was too focused on the tense teenager on the other end of the receiver.
“She hasn’t come home and she’s not answering her cell! I think she turned it off. My mom never turns her phone off!”
Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Frank wanted to beat his head against a wall. Like he needed yet another disaster to today. “I know. I know. Calm down, Olivia.”
“I can’t calm down I don’t know where my mom is!”
A call came through the other end- Jake- and he felt his panic decline just a little. “Olivia, give me a second. I’m getting a call.” He switched over to the newly eighteen year old with shaking fingers. “Jake. Wherever the hell you are, go to Olivia’s now. She’s freaking out.”
“I know. She called me.” He heard the tell tale sounds of beeping horns and rushing winds from Jake’s end.
“Are you using your cell phone and driving?” Hundreds of motor vehicular accidents flashed in his mind. Kids and yelling and metal and parents screaming at the top of their lungs. “Jake-“”
“I’m pulling into her street now. I’ll stay with her until her mom gets here but Frank… I- I saw the article. I know things are bad and I think you should get over here. Liv’s a fucking mess.”
He knew he should be there. He wanted to be there. He also wanted to yell at you for freaking your kid out so much- but his family was here. Tanner and Penny and Abby were here and he could only play hero for one family; so he chose his. “I’ll try. I promise.”
“I’m here. Talk to you later.”
The call ended, and Olivia’s frantic voice came back on. “Jake’s here. God, mom would kill me if she knew I had a boy over alone at home.”
“Something tells me she’ll have to let this one go,” Frank told her. “Jake’s gonna stay with you until your mom gets home. And she is coming home. I know she’s upset but you know she won’t leave you. She loves you.”
He heard slight sniffles in the background, and the recognizable rumble of Jake’s voice. Then, “When are you gonna get here?”
Frank paused only a little. Abby, sensing his oncoming paralysis, grabbed his arm and marched him and the kids to the parking lot. She loaded the kids up in his car- because her sister had driven her and the kids to the hospital- and folded her arms at Frank. Her message could not be more clear. She wanted him off that damn phone.
“Kid, I’m not gonna be able to make it anytime soon. Tanner and Penny are pretty upset about the article-”
“Right, right. The article. Frank, I’m so sorry. Please don’t be mad at my mom.”
“I’m not, kid. There’s just a lot going on right now.” He felt a lot of things about you right now. None of them could really be deemed anger.
“I know. I’ll call you if my mom shows up. Tell Tanner and Penny I say hi?”
“Will do. Call me if you need anything. I mean it.”
“I’ll call Sebastian too. He needs to know about this.”
The call ended. Frank stared at the blank screen. There were many things going through his mind right now. Why was your phone off? How the hell could you not tell Olivia where you were? Would Jake have the common sense and hormone resistance not to get your daughter pregnant right now. All those things paled in comparison to what Olivia said last.
Because who the fuck was Sebastian, and why the fuck did he need to know where you were?
“Was that her daughter? What’s going on?”
Frank slid the phone back in his pocket. “That was Olivia.”
“She sounded tense,” Abby pressed.
“Her mom isn’t home yet. The kid’s only seventeen and they’re joined at the hip. She’s freaked out.”
Abby absorbed the information with her mouth in a grim line. “So she called you?” Frank shrugged.
“You’re not her father,” Abby reminded him. Her tone was as scalding as he’d ever heard it. “You’ve got two children. Focus on them.”
“I always focus on them. I’m here right now. I’m here when I can be-”
“Until you’re not with them. Unless you bring them along to your friend’s-”
“Don’t do this.” Frank’s voice was ice. A little bit of uncertainty slid into Abby’s eyes “Not now. Not here. None of this is my fault, and it’s not Olivia’s. Leave her out of this.” He opened the car and ushered a stunned Abby inside. “We’re going home.”
You drove around for hours before you realized what time it was. And truly, it was only the change from day to dark that alerted you to how long you’d been riding around blubbering. When it finally dawned on you just how much time it had been, your first thought was for Olivia.
You grabbed your phone from where you flung it on the passenger seat earlier. “Fuck.” It was dead. Had probably been for hours, and you knew it held countless phone calls and messages from a frantic Livy. “Fuck!” You mashed on the gas.
This had to be the stupidest thing you’d done in a while. Livy was a head on kid but she had deep rooted abandonment issues. You knew she was at home freaking out. She probably already alerted your parents, Sebastian …. Frank. Had he tried to call you too?
You hated that half your mind was still in that hospital stairwell. Still with him. It trapped your arms against your body and did not let you do what you wanted: hold onto him, scream apologies and beg him not to walk away. Instead, you walked away first. You walked away and you had no idea if Frank would ever talk to you again. You wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t.
Frank had enough problems in his life without you. And the thing was, he was doing so much better. He was going to therapy, work was excellent, the kids were under control and he was even applying to fellowships in other states. Abby didn’t know. No one at work knew. It was only late one evening on a phone call with reruns of Friends playing in the background did he whisper it to you.
“I applied to a fellowship in LA.”
You paused the show you’d barely been watching. “Huh?”
Frank must have shifted, since you heard the now- familiar sound of his bed springs creaking under his weight.. It had become a habit- the two of you over a long phone call on nights he didn’t have the kids. Even longer, if he didn’t have an early shift the next day. “I applied to a fellowship in LA.”
“That’s great,” you breathed. You could imagine him shrugging those lean shoulders over the phone.
“It’s not a teaching position like the one I had lined up yesterday before.”
“Do you even like teaching?” Frank paused.
“I don’t… not like teaching. I do it if I have too. Not my first choice.”
“She doesn’t know. It’s not like I can go even if I get it.”
“Why?” you asked, as though the answer were not glaringly obvious. Then, “oh.”
“My kids?” He reminded you with a chuckle. “Thing 1 and Thing 2 who climb me like monkeys? I can’t leave them.”
“Right. LA is amazing though.” Wistfulness entered your voice; a deep, yearning whine for the palm trees and sunny skies of your preferred home. “It’s worth at least a visit. The kids will love it.”
“I think family vacations are out of the equation right now. Abby and I still have a bit of animosity.” You heard him grunt, a telltale sign that he was stretching and approaching dreamland. “I just applied on a whim. An older buddy of mine applied a few years ago and got in. Hasn’t looked back since.”
“Loves it. Not nearly as heavy as PTMC and shifts are better. Better pay… Gets to see his kids a lot. He posts about them all the time. He’s got two girls around Tanner’s age. He’s teaching ‘em to surf.”
You flipped over onto your stomach, show long forgotten. “I’m shit at surfing. Justin was so good at it. He tried to teach me a few times but I never got far off the shore. It-” You bit your lip. Echoes of Justin’s laugher filled your mind. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dampen the mood.”
“You know you can talk about him, right? You don’t have to apologize for it.”
It wasn’t the first time you had this conversation.
“I know,” you said. “I will.”
And then you changed the subject completely.
Headlights were on in your driveway when you got there. A car- just about to drive out- blurring your vision into wishful thinking.
Frank! He was here. It had to be. You jumped out of your car with it barely coming to a stop. The headlights turned off. Not Frank’s SUV, but a sleek, silver sports car that belonged to- “Sebastian?”
He stepped out of the car as handsome as ever, now sporting a scruffy beard and tired green eyes. Still, he smiled when he saw you. “Dollface. Saw you on the news.”
“Ugh!” You slammed the door with great force. Your car shook, wheels squeaking as if to say ‘well, fuck you too!’ “That shit was on the news?”
Sebastian reached you in two long strides. He cupped the back of your neck and guided your face to his chest. “It was entertainment news, if it makes you feel better.” You groaned into his shirt, allowing his familiar scent of mint to envelope you.
“I’m not even good enough for the real news. This is atrocious!” Sebastian laughed at your muffled words. It felt good to be held by him. His shoulders held years of your tears- more so than Justin- and it was so easy to fall back into your safe place. “I fucked up.”
“His kid got in a fight because of me. The other kid is in the hospital.” You paused then, remembering Sebastian would only know about Frank what he’d seen or read in that day. “Frank’s the doctor who-”
“Who you’re not dating but really want to? Yes. Livy caught me up to speed between bouts of panic attacks.”
“Livy!” Your head popped off his chest. “Oh my god! She’s probably-”
“Asleep,” Sebastian told you. “On the couch. I let her boyfriend stay over because I was about to go out looking for you.” He pressed his lips to the top of your head. “You really scared the kid, doll. You really scared me.”
“I know.” Your words came out like a whine- childish and petulant. You didn’t care. “I know. My phone died and I was driving and… Today was a mess.”
“It happens.” Sebastian led you inside. “You know I know.” At the beginning of your fame, rumours around you and Sebastian swirled like crazy. They only ebbed when Justin entered the picture, and to this day, there were still blogs and TikTok pages dedicated to you two. “The media will be the media.”
“And fans will be fans.” You dropped your phone on the wireless charger at the kitchen island and watched it come to life. “God, they must be taking him apart online.” Someone called your name- Jake- and you looked over your shoulder. Livy was resting with her head on his lap, a blanket pulled over her while he sat as stiff as ever. “Jake, thank you for staying with her.”
“Are you okay? I saw what happened.”
“Not reaching for the bleach, so I’d say it’s a 50-50.” Jake laughed. Sebastian did not. “I’m sure your mom must be worried. You can go on ahead home.” He gave you a salute- fully serious- and carefully extracted himself from under your daughter’s head.
“It was nice to meet you, Sebastian.”
“Likewise.” You watched as the two men dapped each other up. “You’ll keep me updated on that application, huh?”
“Of course. Thank you, again.”
“What application?” You asked, once Jake was out the door and you watched his car pull out.
Sebastian shrugged. “Kid has a pretty good tech idea. Told him to enter the grant competition my company has every year.”
“I thought applications were closed?” Sebastian flashed you a grin.
A rueful smile made its way onto your lips. “You do that a lot.” Whether it be employees who needed loans, college students who needed internships or parents that needed paid time off, Sebastian seemed hell bent on saving the world all by himself. You knew it was a result of his own toeing the breadline upbringing. He worked his way up and wanted to do the same for everyone else. “You need a kid, and a wife. Things to do.”
“How can I have time for that when when I’m busy raising you two.” His tone was light, hand raising to point in Livy’s direction. She was awake, and did not look happy with you. “Round two?”
Abby nee’ Langdon knew when her ex- husband was upset with her. He didn’t get mad in the passionate way- screaming and yelling and arms flailing- but in the soft, passive way that made her want to pull her hair out. Whilst a blessing that Frank never raised his voice at her, she soon came to realize it was more than just a good upbringing and a father who would smack the hell out of him if he did; it was them.
They weren’t in love. When it came to them, they just loved. They were cordial, goals agreeable. Met at a bar one night in college and hit it off. Frank was safe and had his head on and Abby wanted that; a husband, kids, a house. And then she got it… and it was nothing like she thought it would be.
Frank was a good father. Present when physically there and endlessly patient with the kids. He was also a good provider, good with her emotions, good (great) in bed… She wondered where it went wrong for a long time after the divorce. It took her a while to realize the truth. It never went wrong. She and Frank simply weren’t meant to be.
‘A marriage of convenience’ their counselor told her during a solo session. ‘He was what you thought you wanted. You were what he thought he needed. You’re not the same people anymore. Your wants and needs have changed.’ It hit her like a ton of bricks. Abby cried on the chair, in the car, and even in the shower that night. Her husband loved her, but he wasn’t in love with her.
But he was in love with you.
She could tell by the way he kept staring at your contact in his phone, thumb hovering over the digits with indecision, that you were very present on his mind.
“Would you just call her?”
Frank locked his phone. He shifted a bit, careful not to wake the sleeping children on either side of him, and clenched his jaw. “Weren’t you the one who told me not to talk to her again?” Abby blanched. “Your exact words were ‘I don’t ever want that spoiled bitch around you or my kids again!’ Very mean girl of you.”
Abby shook off his last comment- clearly picked up by spending time with your teenage daughter. “Okay. I admit I overreacted.”
“And then telling me I’m not Olivia’s father. I know that. I can’t help that the kid formed an attachment to me.”
“I know.” Abby came to sit beside him, Penny between them like a shield to their verbal spar. “I was pissed about today. The news hit and then Tanner bit that kid and I needed someone to blame. She was right there.”
“It’s not her fault.” Abby could tell he really believed what he was saying. “She could have told me, but it’s not her fault.”
“It’s not your fault either.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t react well. I told her what you said-” At Abby’s alarmed look, Frank hurried to amend his statement. “Not the bitch part. She was worried about Tanner and wanted to come see him. I told her you weren’t sure you wanted her around me or the kids anymore. I could have said it nicer. I don’t even know why I said it in the first place.”
To scapegoat me, Abby thought, then wiped the quip from her mind. It was easier to fight with Frank than it was to comfort him.
“I can’t imagine how you must have felt when all those people showed up. My phone’s been ringing all day. All our friends saw the news. They think she’s your sugar momma.”
Frank made a face. “She’s three years younger, and it’s not like that. We’re just-”
“Friends?” Abby suggested. “You’ve been saying that for quite some time now. I even think you still believe it.”
The pair quieted then, Abby willing him with her eyes to admit his feelings for you and him pointedly not meeting her gaze. Finally, he spoke.
“Why’d you take that card from the lady?” Aw jeez. “There’s nothing wrong with Tanner. He’s a good kid.”
“A good kid whose parents got divorced and whose dad went away to rehab for months.” She saw the effect her words had on him- a frown pulled out of thin air, tension seeping into his shoulders- but Frank had to hear this. She couldn’t keep him in the dark anymore.
“Frankie, you’re better now, so I can tell you this. Tanner is not doing okay. We can blame it on him being a kid, or we can tell the truth. He’s angry.”
Frank shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “I know he’s been a little quieter than usual…”
“Frank, Tanner was downright unmanageable when you went to rehab. I never told you, because I didn’t want to stress you out. My sister had to move in to help me with the kids. He was always sad, always getting into fights and always crying for you. I don’t want it to get worse.”
Guilt sparked in Frank’s blue eyes. Abby wished she didn’t have to tell him this, but it was unfair of her to bear this alone. “I didn’t know it was that bad. Jesus,” Frank reached for her hand. “Abs, I’m so sorry.”
“I’d really like him to meet with that psychologist,” she continued. Tears pricked her eyes. “He needs someone to talk to that isn’t us.”
“Of course.” Abby let out a breath of air. Frank squeezed her hand. “Anything you want. If I had known it was that bad…”
“No it’s not. You never should have had to go through that alone. I’m so fucking sorry, Abs.” She leaned forward- experimental at first, then relaxing into his shoulder like they had done a thousand times before. The only difference was that there was nothing romantic about it. “Okay. New rule.”
“We can have our separate lives, but the kids always come first. I mean it. No secrets when it comes to them. There’s a problem? Call me. You think I can’t handle it? Call me faster. I’d do anything to make sure you and the kids are okay, but I can’t if I don’t know. Okay?”
And as she sat there with her head on her ex husband’s shoulder, the kids asleep and the squeeze of his palm on hers, Abby finally began to understand the importance of closure.
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